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Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure
Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure is the sixth episode of the sixth season of Monk. Plot While in session with Dr. Kroger, Adrian Monk talks about his mother's cooking but loses focus when he notices that Dr. Kroger has received a new wristwatch. Monk starts to guess that it came from Harold Krenshaw. As Dr. Kroger gets Monk back on track, he gets an automated message from his son's school - he hasn't shown up again. Monk figures that Troy is sick but Dr. Kroger says that Troy is probably in some park skateboarding with his friends and listening to trash metal music. For all his expertise as a psychiatrist, Dr. Kroger confesses to Monk that he is at a loss when it comes to dealing with his own son. At a skate park in Pacific Heights, Troy and his two dimwitted friends, Ridley and Pez, are skateboarding and listening to heavy metal music. During one trick, Troy accidentally loses control and his skateboard runs into the bumper of a nearby Cadillac. Going up to apologize to the driver, a heavyset man, they see him sitting up in the driver's seat, stone dead, clutching a half-eaten cheeseburger in his right hand. Looking in the backseat, they find empty burlap bags with the label West Bay Trust on them. The three boys all realize that the dead man is one of two who were responsible for a bank robbery a few days ago in which two gunmen killed a security guard, pistol-whipped a branch manager and made off with $2 million. Troy finds a hand-drawn map in the backseat, and figures that they might find the money. The three teens approach Monk in secret, pretending to have been given an extra credit assignment for school: decipher the map, and they can avoid being flunked. Monk, who is anxious to do something for Dr. Kroger, is eager to help, although Natalie smells a rat and is suspicious. At the same time, Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher have discovered the dead robber's getaway car. Apparently there were two gunmen in the bank, one of whom got shot by a guard. The dead man in the car is not the shooting victim, though, as he has died of a heart attack. The money, and the dead man's partner are nowhere nearby, and there's no identification. A CSI tech on the scene thinks that the partner must have picked the man clean of his wallet and cell phone, but Stottlemeyer contradicts him and deduces that some skateboarders (Troy and his pals) must have found the body first: he points out a ramp, some tire tracks, an abandoned skateboard, and a fresh scratch on the fender that is no more than three hours old. Stottlemeyer is momentarily distracted when Randy finds a store receipt from the local Aunt Boo's fast food chain that was in the car. Randy insists on taking it for himself so he can enter a contest to win free Diet Coke refills for life. Stottlemeyer reluctantly lets Randy take the dead man's receipt. They return to the car, where the CSI tech has found another detail: there is a lot of blood soaked into the fabric in the backseat, indicating that the car was recently carrying a dead body. With Monk's help, Troy and his friends follow the map. During the drive, Troy asks Monk about what his father thinks of him and notes Dr. Kroger is never straight with him, even though he thought he’d be a psychiatrist when he was young. Monk quickly figures that the "44" on the first road they take is actually a mile marker. They later reach a crossroads. Up until now, Troy and the others have thought that the place was where a zoo was, but Monk notices that there is a brewery here called the 200, which sells 200 types of beer. He realizes that the Z on the map is actually a 2. The next clue on the map seems to say “barbecue". Just then, as they are looking around, a cell phone rings. Out of earshot of Monk and Natalie, Pez admits that he lifted the dead robber's cell phone, and answers it. On the other line is Steven Connelly, the bank's assistant branch manager, asking urgently if the "package" was buried. Ridley tries to extract a few details about the precise location, but Connelly realizes that isn't "Tony", the man he is supposed to be talking to, and hangs up. Stottlemeyer and Disher arrive just as Connelly is hanging up and question him. He is shown photos of the dead robber, who we infer is the "Tony" that Connelly was trying to reach, but he lies and says he doesn't recognize him at all given that he was being forced to open the vault at gunpoint. Disher spots a photo of Connelly's brother, "Happy Jack" Connelly, but Steven claims to be out of touch with his troubled sibling. Monk is about to give up on the hunt when he spots a dump truck with the label "Belham Brothers Quarry," and realizes that "BBQ" is the abbreviation for a quarry. Once they reach the quarry, Troy and his friends are elated to see a big red "X" made by two planks sitting on the ground, but Troy reminds the others that they can't dig up the money with Monk and Natalie watching. Thanking Monk enthusiastically, they prepare to leave. None of them notice Connelly watching them, disguised as a workman and carrying a shovel. Monk is called in to consult about the bank robbery. While also poking holes in Randy's soda cup, Stottlemeyer shows Monk crime scene photos of the car, and a surveillance video showing the robbery: two masked gunmen entered the bank on Wednesday morning at 9:18 AM, and they forced assistant branch manager Steven Connelly to open the vault at gunpoint, pistol-whipping him for emphasis. One wore a green ski mask and the other wore a black ski mask. As they were preparing to leave, however, things turned sour: a security guard who decided to try being a hero shot the green ski mask robber in the chest with his sidearm. The one with the black ski mask immediately fired a return shot, which killed the guard, then helped his partner out of the bank with the cash. They were gone within two minutes. The black ski mask robber is the dead man the police found in the car. By tracing the car's license plate, the police have identified him as a petty criminal by the name of Tony Gammalobo. He was 47 years old, lived in Daly City, and had spent four years in an Arizona prison. When they found him, his pockets had been picked clean, there was blood in the backseat, but there was no body at all and there weren't any footprints nearby. Monk realizes Troy lied to him: he realizes that Pez was not only carrying Gamelobo's cell phone, but also his driver's license. Monk excuses himself in a hurry, leaving even Natalie behind. Monk confronts Troy, Ridley and Pez at the convenience store where they hang out, decked out in clothes and jewelry which shows they have obviously been spending money. Confronted, Troy confesses, but begs Monk not to turn them in, as it would break his father's heart. Caught, Monk orders Troy to take him back to the quarry and show him where the money was. If they can return the money to the police, Monk may be able to keep their names out of it. By the time Monk and Troy arrive at the quarry, night has fallen. Troy says they found a small amount of money buried under the big red "X," but Monk says that doesn't make any sense: the "X" on the map corresponds to a completely different point inside the quarry; and anyway, why would career bank robbers ostentatiously hide two million dollars under such an obvious marker? Troy objects that they only found around $5,000, figuring that the bank inflated the amount to rip off the insurance company. When Monk notices a discarded green ski mask nearby, he remembers Stottlemeyer mentioning that the bank robber who was shot wore a green ski mask, and tells Troy that they need to get out of there, immediately. Troy starts the car, but they are stuck on soft gravel. Behind them, Connelly starts up a bulldozer and shoves their car into a concrete berm, then bulldozes a small mountain of gravel over them, burying them both. Here's What Happened Monk quickly goes to pieces inside the trapped car, and Troy - discovering a hidden talent on par with his father's - encourages him to keep talking to stay calm. Monk tells Troy to pull out Gammalobo's cell phone and taking the phone from Troy, Monk quickly starts pressing all of the buttons to call for help. Though there is no signal, he finds the phone's call history, which shows previous calls from both Steven and Jack Connelly. When Monk has another panic attack, Troy calms him by asking him to give the summation. The bank robbery was an inside job: Connelly planned it with two accomplices, his brother "Happy Jack" and Tony Gammalobo. Jack wore a green ski mask and Gammalobo wore a black ski mask. They pistol-whipped Connelly to make sure it looked real, but everything went wrong when the security guard shot Jack, just seconds before Gammalobo gunned him down. Jack was mortally wounded, and died a few hours later. Connelly was in trouble, and needed to get rid of Jack's body, because the police would have known the robbery was an inside job if they identified the body. The map that Troy found was not a treasure map, but rather, a map that Connelly had drawn to instruct Gammalobo where to bury his brother's body. More problems arose when Gammalobo died of a heart attack after he had buried the body and returned to San Francisco. After Connelly realized that Troy and his friends were following the map, he trailed them to the quarry and, after they all left, he buried a small amount of money and marked the spot with an "X," to make sure that they wouldn't dig up his brother's body. When Monk fails to come home, Natalie tracks down Ridley and Pez, and demands to know where he and Troy have gone. She, Stottlemeyer, and Disher go to the quarry, but can find no trace of them. They are about to leave, when Randy asks to make a pit stop (having won the aforementioned contest with the receipt), despite Stottlemeyer berating Randy for not having gone when they were at the last gas station. Hearing him above, Troy and Monk start banging on the roof of their car and yelling. When nothing happens, they realize no one can hear them, but Troy plugs in one of his trash metal CDs and turns the car stereo up to maximum. Hearing faint traces of the music through the gravel, Natalie realizes where they are, and Stottlemeyer calls for rescue. A short while later, Monk is huddled in a shock blanket on the back of an ambulance. Stottlemeyer reports that Connelly has been caught and confessed. He also, to Disher's protests, reported that Disher's role in finding it was due to "dumb luck." Dr. Kroger, who is present, says that he and Troy have had a long talk, and Troy has decided to turn his life around, go back to school, and think seriously about attending college - maybe even to study psychology. Dr. Kroger thanks Monk for giving his family a wonderful gift - though Monk spoils the moment by begging Dr. Kroger to call Harold so Monk can gloat. Background Information and Notes *Second and final appearance of Dr. Kroger's son, Troy, played by Cody McMains. *Discontinuity: Jack Connelly is shot once when Monk, Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Disher watch the surveillance tape in Stottlemeyer's office. During the flashback to this scene in the summation, the guard shoots Jack twice. Additionally, the surveillance tape shows numerous bystanders in the bank during the robbery. For example, when the guard shoots Jack on the tape, there's a guard lying on his stomach on the left side of the screen. But in the summation, this guard is nowhere to be seen. *During the scene where Monk, Natalie, Troy, Ridley and Pez are by a grade crossing trying to figure out the map, a train passes through. The problem is that it is a Metrolink train, and Metrolink is Los Angeles's commuter rail system. Caltrain and BART provide commuter service in San Francisco. *The Vinton Street Market not only was not filmed in San Francisco, but was not filmed on a street called Vinton Street. It was filmed at Alta Dena Drive Thru Dairy at 1750 E. Washington Blvd @ N Dominion Avenue in Pasadena. Quotes 6.06